After 'one bad pitch,' Greg Holland's first season with the Rockies could be his last

Holland: 'When a team in your division rattles off 102 wins, it comes down to a one-game scenario and one team has to lose. It's unfortunate.'

By Nick Groke & Patrick Saunders

The Denver Post

Posted:
10/05/2017 07:22:18 PM MDT

Updated:
10/05/2017 07:22:56 PM MDT

Rockies' pitcher Greg Holland was unable to pick up a dribbler and scoring Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock in the 8th inning with two outs during the National League Wild Card playoff game win at Chase Field on Wednesday. Arizona won 11-8. (Andy Cross / The Denver Post)

PHOENIX — A wild and twisting one-game playoff here Wednesday paraded through big hits after timely turns, but the outcome was reduced to a single pitch — at least according to the man who threw it.

"I threw 18 pitches and one bad one," Rockies closer Greg Holland said. "I should have thrown one more good pitch."

Colorado's closer, the veteran right-hander who carried the club to the top of its division as late as June 20, faltered at the end. And while he deserves no more or less blame than anyone else in the Rockies' 11-8 elimination loss to the Diamondbacks in the National League wild-card game, Holland will eat the result.

Holland helped turn the Rockies around. But his place with the team next season is less clear. If the Rockies want Holland back to handle their ninth innings, it will cost them.

"I haven't thought one bit about it. I've just thought about giving up three runs," Holland said.

On Wednesday, Holland's eighth inning played out like an exact reduction of his season. He jogged to the mound with one out and Paul Goldschmidt on first base, ready to face the heart of Arizona's lineup. He alternated a fastball-mix that tripped up slugging J.D. Martinez, who grounded into a force out.

He worked a two-strike count on Jake Lamb before giving up a line-drive single. Then a level-plane slider to A.J. Pollock turned into a game-clinching two-run triple.

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"I was up 1-2 and I threw my best pitch, my slider, and it was away, but it was mid-thigh and he stayed with it and hit it," Holland said. "That's not where I want the pitch to be and he hurt me with it.

"It is frustrating when you score four runs in the last three innings. I feel like that's a game we would have won had I kept it to a one-run game. I just had that sense, that feeling."

That sense played out all season. Holland was dominating in his return from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery in 2015, an injury that forced him to miss the Royals' run to a World Series, then all of 2016. The Rockies took a chance on him with an incentive-heavy contract that he quickly qualified for. His $7 million base deal for 2017 added at least $9 million in bonuses.

His success also kicked in a clause that turned a $10 million mutual option for 2018 into a $15 million player option. Holland has not said what he will do. But it is likely he will decline that contract and become a free agent. Mark Melancon, by comparison, signed a four-year, $62 million deal with the Giants before this season.

But just like his outing Wednesday slipped at the end, so too did his season. In a six-game stretch through August, Holland blew three save opportunities and lost another, with an 18.00 ERA over that span. Holland's 1.62 ERA through the first half ballooned with a 6.38 mark in the second half.

And his velocity dipped by 3 mph on average compared to his best season in 2013, according to Fangraphs. Holland's average fastball at 93.7 mph, about the same velocity he sported in 2015, as his elbow began to shred.

In the minutes after the Rockies' season ended in defeat, Holland looked back in surprise at how well he melded into his new team. "Good teams have that kind of chemistry," he said. And the Rockies forced Holland, sometimes against his first instinct, into rest, especially early in the season.

And Colorado manager Bud Black stuck with Holland through his August slump. It worked. He had a 1.86 ERA and five saves in 10 appearances in September.

The Rockies were desperate for a shutdown closer. They found one. Holland anchored a bullpen that helped propel them to the playoffs, a bullpen that in recent seasons without him caused so much frustration. But that one thigh-high slider that became a triple might be among his last with Colorado.

"When a team in your division rattles off 102 wins, it comes down to a one-game scenario and one team has to lose. It's unfortunate," Holland said. "I really felt like, if we get out of the first game, we have a team that could end up winning the World Series."

Diamondbacks deny using electronic device to steal signs vs. Rockies

Major League Baseball is investigating the possibility that an Arizona Diamondbacks coach used an electronic watch to enhance his team's ability to steal signs during Wednesday night's wild-card playoff win over the Rockies, an MLB source confirmed Thursday.

However, the Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon said that the watch worn by Ariel Prieto was not used to gain an unfair advantage during Arizona's 11-8 victory. The Diamondbacks advanced to the National League division series against the Dodgers, which begins Friday in Los Angeles.

"Ariel Prieto has assured us that this was a simple oversight and honest mistake," the Diamondbacks said in a statement. "The watch he wore last night was absolutely not used in any way related to our game and we will make certain prior to the NLDS that it will not be an issue again. Ariel takes full responsibility and feels terrible that this has been a distraction of any kind."

According to a report in the New York Post, MLB was trying to determine if Prieto was using the electronic watch to convey stolen signs to Diamondbacks players.

Wednesday's incident occurred three weeks after Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed that the Boston Red Sox used electronic communication from the dugout, as well as video cameras, to steal opponents' signs and relay them to Boston players during games. The Red Sox were fined an undisclosed amount, and Manfred said in a statement that "all 30 clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks."

MLB rules prohibit any electronic equipment on the bench that have internet capabilities. It is baseball's attempt to prevent teams from using high-tech electronics to steal signs. Laptop computers, provided by MLB, are allowed in dugouts, but they are internet-disabled.

The Red Sox's actions were brought to MLB's attention by Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who filed a complaint with Manfred's office. According to The New York Times, Cashman supplied video of what the Yankees said was a Red Sox trainer looking at his Apple Watch, and then relaying information to players during a series between the teams in Boston.

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